Boulder Field on Łysa Góra (Holy Cross Mountain)

The boulder field on Łysa Góra (say "WIH-sah GOO-rah"; the field is called a gołoborze, "goh-woh-BOH-zheh") is the largest expanse of bare quartzite rock in Poland's Holy Cross Mountains. This gray "sea of stones" pours down the northern slope of Łysa Góra, also known as Holy Cross Mountain, just below the hilltop abbey in Świętokrzyski National Park, about 35 km east of Kielce. A wooden viewing gallery lets you look over it and far across the plains: the park's signature view.

What is a gołoborze?

The name comes from a folk term for places "bare of forest." The blocks are Cambrian quartzite sandstone, more than 500 million years old. During the last glaciation, roughly 74,000 to 8,500 years ago, the area had a harsh periglacial climate: water froze in cracks and split the rock, while finer debris slid away downslope, leaving only the big blocks. These boulder fields are fossil landforms. They no longer form today and are very slowly being colonized, first by mosses and lichens, then by rowan trees at the edges.

The Łysa Góra field is named after botanist Professor Roman Kobendza and covers 3.84 ha (about 9.5 acres). All the boulder fields in the park total about 22 ha, and the park describes this one as among the largest in the uplands of Central Europe.

What else to see on Holy Cross Mountain

• The viewing gallery, a wooden terrace built after decades of visitors scrambling over loose stones damaged both the rock field and an ancient rampart.
• The pagan rampart, a stone wall about 1.5 km long and up to 2 m high, dated to the early Middle Ages (most often to the 9th–10th centuries). Folk legends tell of witches' sabbaths held on the summit.
• The Holy Cross Abbey, by tradition founded by King Bolesław the Brave, which keeps relics of the True Cross.
• The 157 m TV mast, a landmark visible from far away.

The summit itself stands at 594–595 m (1,950 ft), second only to nearby Łysica in the range.

How to get to the boulder field

• From Nowa Słupia: blue trail, 1.9 km, about 50 minutes uphill through fir and beech forest.
• From Huta Szklana: red trail alongside the paved road to Święty Krzyż. This is the only nearby section where leashed dogs are allowed.
• From Święta Katarzyna: a full-day ridge hike over Łysica on the Main Holy Cross Trail.

Allow 2–3 hours for the climb, the gallery and the abbey.

Tickets (as of October 2026)

• Park entry: 11 PLN, reduced 5.50 PLN.
• Boulder-field viewing gallery: 14 PLN, reduced 7.50 PLN; holders of a park ticket pay less (a reduced ticket or a special 5 PLN ticket). Fees apply year-round.
• Children under 7 and Large Family Card holders go free; people visiting a place of worship are exempt from the park fee.
• Tickets can be bought online on the park website.

The park's nature exhibition at Święty Krzyż has been closed since July 1, 2026.

Visiting in winter

You may not walk onto the boulder field; it is viewed only from the gallery. In winter 2026/27, the steps and decking can be icy and the path from Nowa Słupia slippery, so pack microspikes. The park is open from dawn to dusk.